THE SPORT OF ROWING my boat down to the water we would pass right next to each other, and he would wink at me. I loved that. “Later at the Olympics in 1984, I never felt that close to the other athletes. “I remember going into the heat in 1982, and I hadn‟t really thought through all the details, like if I would get a better lane if I raced hard in the heat even if I was going to lose. Harry just said, „Race hard. Let‟s see what you can do.‟ “So I raced hard.
The Heat Biglow: “Reiche was out ahead of me, but I came back on him, and it was really close at the end. “We were neck and neck, like it had been with Tiff in the Northeast Regionals, where you row next to someone for thirty strokes and your legs really start to burn. If they‟re a little bit ahead or a little bit behind, you can sort of ease up just a little bit, but if they‟re right next to you, it really keeps you honest. “I think he had to work really, really hard to beat me, and it was, I‟m thinking, 0.1 seconds. “Somebody said that they heard Reiche ask his coach, „What are we going to do now?‟
USRA
Rüdiger Reiche, Dynamo Potsdam 1981, 1982 GDR Single Sculler
“„I‟ve got to go off hard,‟ I thought, but I couldn‟t do it! It seemed like an impossibility.5755 “I went off the start, and Reiche was out to a length on me really quickly, and then the race unfolded.”5756 Vasily Yakusha, 6‟4” 194 lb. 209 lb. 95 kg, Centraliy Sportiviy Klub Armii Minsk, the 1980 Olympic Singles Silver Medalist, took the lead in the first 500 and then dropped his rating to 29 as Reiche pushed past him by half a length before the 1,000. In the third 500, Biglow rowing 33 separated himself from the rest of the pack, and at 1,250 he raised his rating to 36 and began to move on the two leaders.
The Final Biglow: “In the final, when I raced Reiche again, I remember thinking I never go off hard enough.
5755
It turns out that it was indeed an “impossibility” to go off the line hard in Biglow‟s sliding-rigger boat. See the extensive discussion in Chapter 140. 5756 Biglow, personal conversation, 2008
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